Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force photo.
High Mach speed stripped the then standard thickness paint from the aircraft.
Instrument panel of XB-70 #1, NASA photo.
Silent NASA video of take-off from Edwards AFB, 1965:
The original chase plane was a TB-58 Hustler. The trainer version of the Hustler bomber was fast and could keep up with the XB-70 by cutting inside the Valkyrie’s turns. NASA photo.
The 1st XB-70A (#62-001, tail #20001) taking off with TB-58 bomber-trainer acting as chase plane. The TB-58 could fly at Mach-2, but the XB-70A could hit Mach-3.
Silent NASA video of XB-70A landing at Edwards AFB in 1965:
NASA photo, 1965.
The windshield could be raised to reduce drag.
NASA photo, 08JUN1966.
On 08JUN1966, the 2nd XB-70 (62-207) was destroyed in a high speed crash caused by a chase F-104N (with the orange & yellow tail) drifting into the Valkyrie’s right wing, flipping over the top of the Valkyrie, hitting the bomber’s vertical stabilizers and left wing. NASA says this photo was taken just before the collision.
It was suggested that the drooped wing tips created a vortex that sucked the F-104 into the XB-70. The F-104 pilot and the XB-70’s co-pilot were killed, the XB-70 pilot managed to eject. The other chase aircraft are T-38, F-4B and YF-5A.
Edwards AFB, California, 1967, NASA photo.
Edwards AFB, California, 1967, NASA photo.
XB-70A and white painted X-15, Edwards AFB, California, 1967, NASA photo.
The 1st Valkyrie went on to conduct more super-sonic research flights until replaced by the YF-12A.
NASA photo, 1968.
NASA photo, 1968.
Valkyrie 20001 after arrival at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, February 1969.
Being flown down the road to its retirement home known as a museum, 1971.
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force video explaining the XB-70:
NASA’S Russian Tupolev 144 SST
Bare Metal: NASA TRUCKS
Indiana Air National Guard 122nd Fighter Wing over Terre Haute, 02MAY2020.
122nd Fighter Wing, Indiana Air National Guard, over Fort Wayne on 13MAY2020.
Maryland Air National Guard 175th Wing A-10Cs over local hospitals, 08MAY2020.
A KC-135 leads a pack of F-16s and F-35s on a Air Force Salutes flight over Arizona, 01MAY2020. At least 15 aircraft were involved.
The crew of a Michigan Air National Guard 127th Wing KC-135 just before taking off for a Michigan Strong flyover, 13MAY2020.
KC-135R from the 914th Air Refueling Wing, Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, in formation with F-35s from the 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont Air National Guard Base, 12MAY2020.
Ohio Air National Guard KC-135 flies with an F-16 during Operation American Resolve, 13MAY2020.
Tail boom of 134th Air Refueling Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard, 12MAY2020.
Reflection of Little Rock Air Force Base C-130J in the windows of a Arkansas hospital, 08MAY2020.
California Air National Guard’s 115th Airlift Squadron over the Mojave Desert near Palmdale, 14MAY2020.
403rd Wing’s 815th Airlift Squadron over Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, 28APR2020.
New York Air National Guard LC-130 (
A C-130H out of Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, conducting a second round of pandemic overflights on 07MAY2020. Not only did Ohio aircraft fly over Ohio, but also locations in Pennsylvania.
Two Ohio Air National Guard 179th Airlift Wing C-130Hs also flew pandemic overflights, 15MAY2020.
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, this Blue Angels C-130 was temporarily brought out of retirement to give moral support, 06MAY2020, unfortunately it was not flown.
12MAY2020, Guam National Guard begins Task Force 31 ops in local government offices.
On 12MAY2020, Texas National Guard personnel descend upon a nursing home in Austin, one day after the governor ordered the Texas National Guard to begin so called Task Force 31 operations.
Alabama’s Task Force 31 is staffed by Air and Army National Guard personnel, and work at the direction of Alabama’s State Department of Veterans Affairs.
26APR2020, Oklahoma National Guard disinfect a buffet at a nursing home (as well as the rest of the nursing home) in Tulsa.
West Virginia National Guard enter a child care center, 04MAY2020, to disinfect common areas with chemical sprays.
West Virginia National Guard was instructed how to use Aerosolized Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) systems to disinfect rooms.
02APR2020, a Georgia Army National Guard member pours liquid disinfectant (Hydrogen Peroxide?) into a ‘fogger’ for aerosol use in a Georgia nursing home.
The aerosolized chemical is claimed to be 99.9% effective at killing pathogens within 20 minutes.
Camp Shaheen.
November 2010, a maintenance supervisor with Company D, 186th Brigade Support Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team cuts-up an old Soviet occupation armored vehicle in Durani Village, Parwan Province, Afghanistan. The villagers were able to sell the pieces of steel to recyclers for cash.
BTR-80, Panjshir Province, Afghanistan, January 2010.
T-54/55, Bamyan Province.
Nowzad, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, February 2011. Children line up for school while a relic (T-55) of the 1980s Soviet occupation rusts away in the background.
Derelict World War Two era Soviet T-34/85 in Muqer District, Ghazni Province, March 2012.
T-55 in Nowzad, Helmand Province, Afghanistan February 2012.
Remains of ZSU-23-4, Bala Hissar Fortress, August 2013. You can see where the anti-aircraft tank took a direct hit in the side.
BMP-1s and a T-54/55 (without bore evacuator) in Bamyan Province, February 2013.
Soviet occupation era T-55 still in use. The U.S. Marine Corps observed Afghan government forces use it against rebel troops in Sangin District, Helmand Province, August 2018.